A Whale of a Whiff with Barbara Herman

POPULUXE

Ambergris is a rare, precious, and quite expensive natural ingredient used in luxury perfume making. It was used much more frequently in the past by luxury brands like Chanel, Dior, and Guerlain, among others.

The type of perfume produced with ambergris is considered to be an "animalic" fragrance. It is characterized by longevity, fullness, and balance.

Ambergris is indeed one of the main ingredients of MXXX, a perfume created by Barbara Herman for ERIS PARFUMS, and a category disruptor.

In Barbara's words, ambergris, her object of desire, sheds a golden light that brings out all the details of a well designed perfume formula.

Barbara Herman is the founder and creative director of ERIS PARFUMS, a luxury niche perfume brand based in New York City. She's also the author of Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume (2013, Lyons Press).
Correction: In this episode, it was stated, incorrectly, that Barbara Herman is a native Californian. Barbara was born in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). She grew up in Arkansas and Texas, moved to New York, and then to California where she spent 15 years. She also lived briefly in New Orleans before permanently returning to New York.

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